A GIft From Chronos
by anahita200475
Summary: What if Percy is given the ability to change his past. strictly percabeth.
1. Chapter 1

Chronos

Silena…

Luke..

Bob…

Ethan…

I silently remembered the names of all those who had died during the two wars as I always did before going too sleep. If only I had tried harder, if only I had known better, been faster, if only-

"Dude! Stop with the mopey thinking, you're giving me a headache."

"What the –"I was up with riptide pointed at the man in a second.

"Relax man! I'm come here in peace" the intruder made a peace sign while grinning. The man in question was tall with silver hair, a tanned body, perfect teeth and golden eyes that glowed with power. He seemed ancient despite his ridiculous grin.

Then I saw his outfit, he wore a cream coloured bodysuit with multicoloured clocks, sundials and sand clocks. His arms were covered in watches. The overall image of the man was very distracting.

"Uh…who are you exactly?"

"I'm Chronos dude" he waved. I uncapped riptide and pushed it towards his Adam's apple

"What?" He did look Titan-y with his Einstein silver hair but it couldn't be Kronos, he would never act so casual. Well that and the tiny fact that he was sheesh kebabed in the first war.

"I am. Just not the psycho Titan one." He winked. I raised an eyebrow.

"Again- who are you exactly?"

"I'm the primordial of time, and I'm here to help you. You see ananke- that's the primordial of fate- and I were just discussing you. Over the years you've become such an amazing source of entertainment."

" that's all I live for entertainment to gods" I grumbled

" the last person as entertaining as you was Heracles" he continued ignoring me " and while we can just reverse time to see him perform his labours , it gets boring after a while . So we have decided to give you a gift- each, just to shuffle things up a bit".

"Ok." I was cautious a gift from a god has got to have a catch.

" from ananke, you get the ability to control the mist, just concentrate a bit and imagine the illusion you want. And from my amazing self" this guy is definitely related to Apollo. " you get to go back in time and fix the wars."

"What!"

"Well you can't completely change the timeline, the wars and quests have got to happen but you can make them easier, you know, less screaming and dying more screaming and winning" he beamed.

"But isn't messing with time, like , bad ju-ju or something?" I asked sceptically.

"Well what's the worst that could happen ? You can always go back again and undo the change can't you? And I've got it thought out, you go to camp half-blood do your quest then each year, I send you back in time to the beginning of summer and you go to camp Jupiter so you are at both camps at the same time . That will quell the distrust when the camps merge, and since the Olympians can't know about this , Hera will do the Switch but when she erases your memory, you will still remember everything. Get your Pegasus to run away with the Hades girl, before hunters show up. Don't let the Hephaestus boy die in the ship, and tell Calypso about about the fire boy who will rescue her and you can tell her how you know just make her keep it a secret. See?" He snapped his fingers," totally thought out, you might wanna take the monster proof phone fire boy made you, it will be a long time before you get another one. Drop everything else including riptide , it will be suspicious if you have two of them."

My head was spinning as I tried to process the information , but I quickly dropped riptide and grabbed Leo's phone.

"Ready?"

"No"

"Well then" he snapped his fingers " have fun"

And everything turned dark


	2. Chapter 2

**_Guess Who's Back?_**

 ** _"Hey, seaweed brain, wake up"_**

 ** _My vision was blurry, but I could make out a face framed with blond curls._**

 ** _"Annabeth-" I reached my hand upto cup her face._**

 ** _" Percy wake up" she said. I pouted, "but it's so nice here Annabeth"_**

 ** _"Percy- WAKE UP "_**

That voice that was definitely not Annabeth's. I got up so quick I bumped heads with the person trying to wake me up. It was Grover, young Grover

"Grover?" I said weakly , clutching my head .

" yeah percy"

"Next time you are waking me up, do it from a distance will you"

"Sure" I looked around, I was at my dorm room at Yancy Academy. It was exactly like I remembered, well a bit messier but besides that exactly like I remembered.

"Get up perce, we have breakfast in an hour, I don't wanna miss it"

It worked , it actually worked. I was in a trance as I grabbed my stuff and went into the washroom. 'Ok' I calmed myself down,'this isn't the first crazy thing you've seen, just relax.'

" exactly" a voice in my head, that was not mine, said.

"Chronos?" I thought.

"Yup" came the annoyingly over peppy voice.

"What are you doing in my head" I asked. If I was doing this all again, including Tartarus, the last thing I needed was Chronos stuck in my head.

" think of me as your spirit guide, or a conscience"

" I prefer to think of you as the annoying voice stuck in my head" I grumbled

"Whatever dude, just get ready and eat breakfast" I rolled my eyes and looked myself in the mirror with distaste, I had to gain my muscles back, flab was not going to work for my plans.

This is going to suck , a lot . I quickly got ready and left. Looking in the mirror was just plain painful.

The next morning I woke at dawn,everyone else was still asleep

" hey Chronos?" I asked."how do i use the mist"

"Easy dude, just imagine the illusion, concentrate on it and snap your fingers"

I tried to concentrate on being invisible, I couldn't have Grover finding out about me sneaking out to the gym of all places. I thought about Annabeth's invisibility hat, and focused on imagining it on my head. And then I snapped my fingers. I looked down, no body.

"Yes! I did it"

"because of me" chronos said.

I quickly snuck out to the gym, maybe I couldn't throw javelins or use swords, but I could increase my fitness level.

I did laps around the gym, climbed up and down the climbing ropes(they make a nice substitute for the climbing wall) and did push-ups, or at least I tried, by my fifth push-up, I was exhausted, It seemed I would have to start paying attention in physical ed.

Over the next few weeks, I worked out a schedule, I got up early, hid myself with mist, went to the gym, worked out, took a shower , ate breakfast , went to classes, hung out with Grover and went to sleep. My fitness level started increasing slowly, I lost fat and started getting muscles, I wasn't as strong as I used to be but I was getting better.

I started getting better grades because I was 'studying harder' (nothing to do with the fact that i knew all this stuff already, how dare you accuse me of that?)

Not to mention, I was usually so exhausted I didn't have the energy to fight Nancy Bobofit and didn't end up getting probation this time around.

And then it was time for the trip to the museum.


	3. Chapter 3

_This Just Might Be Better Than I Thought_

The bus ride to the museum was just as long and irritating as I remembered, especially with Nancy throwing bits of food at Grover.

The boredom was making me drowsy, but I knew better than to fall asleep in a bus full of hyperactive middle schoolers. Suddenly an idea struck me. I smirked inwardly. Let's have some fun.

ok so how do I do this?

"hey Grover?"

"mmmmmm" he was craning his neck out the window.

"you know miss Dodds? She kind of fits the description of those furies Mr. Brunner was telling us about, don't you think?"

"what?" he turned his head around so fast that I'm surprised that it didn't snap.

"I mean just look at her man, all she needs is a whip and wings"

"y-yeah you are right" he let out a weak chuckle "totally like them."

I tried to hide my laughter as I watched Grover squirm, 'he can read emotions,' I reminded myself.

"hey Grover?" I started again "you think life as a son of a God would suck?"

"what do you mean Perce?" he was looking paler by the second

"I mean look at Achilles, he died with an arrow in his foot, right after fighting a war"

"I dunno , why a sudden interest in mythology" he asked, looking like he'd rather not know the answer.

"I had a weird dream last night, like weird-wierd"

" what was it about?" he asked.

"well I was standing at the edge of this huge pit and this voice comes out of it. It said 'hide little demigod, you may be the son of an elder god, but you are still a puny human." Grover was pale enough that he looked like was about to faint.

"Grover, you feeling okay?"

"I'm fine your dream was just a little scary"

"but it was just a dream?"

"un-huh just a dream"

"ok. Just tell me if you feel sick, I'll get you Mr. Brunner or someone"

"I'm fine. Just forget it"

"sure" I smiled. That was fun. This just might be better than I thought.


	4. Chapter 4

_a/n- sorry about the before, i don't how i posted the programming,but its fixed now.  
\- _

_The metropolitan museum of art : where history is alive-literally_

Chiron led the tour again.

He rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding us through the big echoey galleries, past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black-and-orange pottery.

I used to find this place amazing, before I saw the relics at the camp

He gathered us around a thirteen-foot-tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top, and started telling us how it was a grave marker, a stele, for a girl about our age. He didn't mention for who, but I had seen it before, princess Andromada.

He told us about the carvings on the sides. I was trying to listen to what he had to say, because it was kind of interesting, but everybody around me was talking, and that made it very hard to listen, if I moved even a bit, the fury, Alecto would give me the evil eye.

I wondered how long I go without seeing Annabeth. This was going to be hard, especially since with all the time travel, it would be a year's gap between every time I saw her. At least I brought Leo's phone with me, so I could contact mom, whenever I wanted.

Speaking of contact, could I iris message myself, I should try that once I have reached camp Jupiter.

Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art.

Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the stele, and I sighed, how can someone be so stupid and annoying at the same time.

"well they could be you" commented Chronos

"first of all that was a rhetorical question; second, I'm not stupid; third, if anyone's annoying it's you and last if I'm gonna be called annoying you better add a -ingly handsome behind it "

Chronos just snorted before going silent.

"Mr. Jackson" Chiron pointed to the picture of kronos on the stele" perhaps you can tell us what this picture represents"

"That's Kronos eating his kids, right?"

"Yes," Chiron said, obviously not satisfied. "And he did this because ..."

"Well...Kronos was the king titan , and he didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um, Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus, and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead. And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans," I continued, "and the gods won."

Some snickers from the group.

Behind me, Nancy Bobofit mumbled to a friend, "Like we're going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids.'"

"And why, Mr. Jackson," Brunner said, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?"

"Busted," Grover muttered.

"Shut up," Nancy hissed, her face even brighter red than her hair.

I suppressed the urge to smirk." The story is a lesson, kind of, like this was the ancient way of saying look before you leap"

"yeah" came a voice behind me. "the moral of this story was, check the expiration date before you eat your kids"

The class snickered

"I see." Chiron beamed, ignoring the kid. " full credit, Mr. Jackson. Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach. The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld. On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?"

The class gathered on the front steps of the museum, where we could watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue.

Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than eve, the fight for the lightning bolt was getting worse. Nobody else seemed to notice, except Grover whom I saw glancing towards the sky nervously.

Grover and I sat on the edge of the fountain, away from everyone else.

I watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and thought about my mom's not-so-old-anymore apartment, only a little ways uptown from where we sat. I hadn't seen her in weeks. I wanted so bad to jump in a taxi and head home. She'd hug me and be glad to see me, but she'd send me right back to Yancy, because she wouldn't remember my other life and she would think that school was more important than spending the little time we would have together.

Just as I was unwrapping my sandwich Nancy appeared with her ugly friends-and dumped her half -eaten lunch on Grover's lap.

"oops" she grinned at me with her crooked teeth.

Well, I guess it's time to dunk her in the fountain. I wouldn't want to change the timeline too much or it would change and I would lose my advantage. Plus this gave me a chance to mess with Nancy.

I concentrated, there was a familiar tinge in my belly and suddenly Nancy was inside the fountain screaming "Percy pushed me".

Alecto materialized next to us. And I allowed myself a small smile in anticipation of her temporary demise.

She made sure sweet Nancy was okay and promised to buy her a new shirt, before turning to me with a triumphant look, which now that I think about it was probably because the fountain thing confirmed that I was a child of the big three. Oops.

"now honey-"

"I'm sorry" I said. "it was an accident- I swear"

"come with me" Alecto said.

"wait." Grover yelped." It was me, I pushed her"

Sweet Grover. She's a monster, she won't let a powerful demigod go just because someone asked her to.

"I don't think so Mr. Underwood" she said

" But –"

"You-will-stay-here" she said.

Grover looked at me desperately.

"it's ok man " I told him.

Nancy Bobofit smirked.

I glared at her. And watched with satisfaction as she shivered.

"honey" Alecto barked. "now"

I turned to face Alecto, but she was already standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently at me to come on.

I went in after her.

Halfway up the steps, I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes between me and Chiron, it seemed he didn't want me to notice he was going to go to Chiron.

I looked back up. Alecto had disappeared again. She was now inside the building, at the end of the entrance hall.

I followed her deeper into the museum. When I finally caught up to her, we were back in the Greek and Roman section.

Except for us, the gallery was empty.

Alecto stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She was growling.

"You've been giving us problems, honey," she said.

. I said, "ma'am?"

"don't play dumb with me "She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. "Did you really think you would get away with it?"

The look in her eyes was pure evil.

I said, " get away with what, ma'am."

Thunder shook the building.

"We are not fools, Percy Jackson," Alecto said. Debatable. "It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain."

'play dumb' I reminded myself

"Well?" she demanded.

"Ma'am, I don't..."

"Your time is up," she hissed.

Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals. Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She turned into a shriveled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me to ribbons.

Chiron, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding riptide in his hand.

"What ho, Percy!" he shouted, and tossed the pen through the air.

Alecto lunged at me.

I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear. I snatched the pen out of the air, but when it hit my hand, it wasn't a pen anymore. It was a sword – my sword.

Alecto spun toward me with a murderous look in her eyes.

I pretended to shake, almost dropping my sword in the process

She snarled, "Die, honey!"

And she flew straight at me.

focusing on making it seem unpracticed and awkward, I swung the sword.

The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water. Hisss!

Alecto was a sand castle in a power fan. She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching me.

I was alone.

There was a ballpoint pen in my hand.

Chiron wasn't there. Nobody was there but me.

I shoved riptide in my pocket.

I went back outside.

It had started to rain.

Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw me, she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt."

I said, "Who?"

"Our teacher. Duh!"

I blinked, I forgot about the mist. We had no teacher named Mrs. Kerr. I asked Nancy what she was talking about.

She just rolled her eyes and turned away.

I asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was.

He said, "Who?"

But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at me, I really needed to teach him how to lie.

"Not funny, man," I told him. "This is serious." These people really need to come up with better excuses for the mist, someone might think that they were turning mad and lock themselves up in a mental institution.

Thunder boomed overhead.

I saw Chiron sitting under his red umbrella, reading his book, as if he'd never moved.

I didn't go over to him this time, he would only ask for riptide back.

I just sat next to Grover trying to look confused and panicked


	5. Chapter 5

_I Am A Good Friend_

I knew no one remembered her, but I kept asking about Mrs Dodds, Grover of course, kept trying to lie.

I wanted to go back to our little apartment with mom and Paul and sweet little Estelle between them on the couch.

I was homesick.

But that life wasn't there yet. I had to wait for I to come.

But…. there were things I'd miss at Yancy. The view of the woods out my dorm window, the Hudson River in the distance, the smell of pine trees.

I'd miss Latin class, too—Chiron's crazy tournament days

As exams went on, I realized that I didn't need to study at all. I knew the stuff already. So I spent my days planning out the future, imagining different reactions to my conversations with Annabeth.

On the day when I was supposed to overhear Chiron and Grover talking about me, I went out for a walk instead, i needed some fresh air.

I walked for a long time, before heading back in.

On the last day of the term, I shoved my clothes into my suitcase.

The other guys were joking around, talking about their vacation plans. One of them was going on a hiking trip to Switzerland. Another was cruising the Caribbean for a month. They were juvenile delinquents, like me, but they were rich juvenile delinquents. Their daddies were executives, or ambassadors, or celebrities. .

They asked me what I'd be doing this summer and I told them that I'm going to Vegas

"Oh," one of the guys said. "That's cool."

They went back to their conversation as if I'd never existed.

Grover had booked a ticket to Manhattan on the same Greyhound as I had, so there we were, together again, heading into the city.

During the whole bus ride, Grover kept glancing nervously down the aisle, watching the other passengers. It was getting painful to watch him act like a scared kid again, especially when I was used to Grover Underwood- the confident lord of the wild.

Finally I couldn't stand it anymore.

I said, "Looking for Kindly Ones?"

Grover nearly jumped out of his seat. "Wha—what do you mean?"

I confessed about eavesdropping on him and Chiron the night before the exam.

Grover's eye twitched. "How much did you hear?"

"Oh ... not much. What's the summer solstice dead-line?"

He winced. "Look, Percy ... I was just worried for you, see? I mean, hallucinating about demon math teachers, having weird dreams ..."

"Grover—"

"And I was telling Mr. Brunner that maybe you were overstressed or something, because there was no such person as Mrs. Dodds, and ..."

"Grover, you're a really, really bad liar."

His ears turned pink.

From his shirt pocket, he fished out a grubby business card. "Just take this, okay? In case you need me this summer.

The card was in fancy script, which was murder on my dyslexic eyes, but I finally made out something like:

Grover Underwood

Keeper

Half-Blood Hill

Long Island, New York

(800) 009-0009

"What's Half—"

"Don't say it aloud!" he yelped. "That's my, um ... summer address." I smiled inwardly.

"Okay," I said. "So, like, if I want to come visit your mansion."

He nodded. "Or ... or if you need me."

"sure. I don't think I'm coming back here next year. Maybe I'd call you. Okay?"

"sure" Grover looked relieved. "Look, Percy, the truth is, I—I kind of have to protect you."

I stared at him. Hysteria bubbling In my stomach at his expression.

"Grover," I said, "what exactly are you protecting me from?"

There was a huge grinding noise under our feet. Black smoke poured from the dashboard and the whole bus filled with a smell like rotten eggs. The driver cursed and limped the Greyhound over to the side of the highway.

After a few minutes clanking around in the engine compartment, the driver announced that we'd all have to get off. Grover and I filed outside with everybody else.

We were on a stretch of country road—no place you'd notice if you didn't break down there. On our side of the highway was nothing but maple trees and litter from passing cars. On the other side, across four lanes of asphalt shimmering with afternoon heat, was an old-fashioned fruit stand.

The stuff on sale looked really good: heaping boxes of bloodred cherries and apples, walnuts and apricots, jugs of cider in a claw-foot tub full of ice. There were no customers, just three old ladies sitting in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree, knitting the biggest pair of socks I'd ever seen.

I mean these socks were the size of sweaters, but they were clearly socks. The lady on the right knitted one of them. The lady on the left knitted the other. The lady in the middle held an enormous basket of electric-blue yarn.

All three women looked ancient, with pale faces wrinkled like fruit leather, silver hair tied back in white bandannas, bony arms sticking out of bleached cotton dresses

.  
The Three Fates

I looked over at Grover, and saw that the blood had drained from his face. His nose was twitching.

"Grover?" I said. "Hey, man—"

"Tell me they're not looking at you. They are, aren't they?"

"Yeah. Weird, huh? You think those socks would fit me?"

"Not funny, Percy. Not funny at all."

The old lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors—gold and silver, long-bladed, like shears. I heard Grover catch his breath.

"We're getting on the bus," he told me. "Come on."

"What?" I said. "It's a thousand degrees in there." Then I realized Grove that the fates were going to cut my lifeline.

"relax man" isaid. It was the best I could give him without telling him that I knew something.

"Come on!'" He pried open the door and climbed inside, but I stayed back.

Across the road, the fates were still watching me. The middle one cut the yarn, and I could hear that snip across four lanes of traffic. Her two friends balled up the electric-blue socks.

At the rear of the bus, the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine compartment. The bus shuddered, and the engine roared back to life.

The passengers cheered.

"Darn right!" yelled the driver. He slapped the bus with his hat. "Everybody back on board!"

Once we got going, I started feeling feverish, as if I'd caught the flu.

Grover didn't look much better. He was shivering and his teeth were chattering.

"Grover?"

"Yeah?"

"What are you not telling me?"

He dabbed his forehead with his shirt sleeve. "Percy, what did you see back at the fruit stand?"

"You mean the old ladies? What is it about them, man? They stared at me all creepy before cutting a bit of yarn."

He was sweating, he made a three-clawed gesture to ward off evil

"this not happening " he muttered "I won't let it be like last time"

. "Always sixth grade. They never get past sixth."

"Grover," I said, "What are you talking about?"

He didn't answer, I just couldn't see him so worried." Look man, whatever it is, it will be fine"

"Let me walk you home from the bus station. Promise me."

I promised he could, this time I wouldn't even ditch him. Let him get a little peace, I decided

"Is this like a superstition or something?" I asked.

No answer.

"Grover—that snipping of the yarn. Does that mean somebody is going to die?"

He looked at me mournfully, like he was already picking the kind of flowers I'd like best on my coffin. times like this i never understand how he became the lord of the wild.


	6. Chapter 6

_The Time I Didn't Ditch Grover? I still met the Minotaur_

This time when Grover went to the washroom, I did not run away, I, unloaded the bags and waited for him like the good friend that I am.

Once he was don't with his business, we went to this new taco place, that I already knew was going to be awesome just looking at it, and ordered everything with extra cheese and veggies.

About half an hour later, we left the place with our stomach full and our pockets nearly empty. I just saved enough for the ride home. We got up on a taxi and gave the driver the address. The cheese taco seemed to have calmed Grover down, he was no longer muttering about 6th grade.

We got off in front of the apartment. I looked at Grover. "I would invite you inside, but I doubt you'd wanna come, my step-fathers stench might just make you faint"

Grover smiled. "so I guess I'll see you if you want to visit or something"

"I will" I promised him. "so how are you getting back?"

Just then, my mom stepped outside the building, "Percy" she said.

My emotions came rushing up to me, I rushed towards her and threw my arms around her.

"I missed you" I said over her shoulder.

"I missed you too"

Remembering Grover, I turned to see him standing awkwardly at the sidewalk. I beckoned him closer. "mom, this is my friend Grover" I gestured to him." he invited me to his home, this summer".

Mom's tensed for a second, looking worried, before she smiled kindly "nice to meet you Grover"

"nice to meet you too Mrs. Jackson" Grover said.

"so how are you getting home Grover?" I asked again.

"I don't know yet, I'll find a way"

I frowned "dude, you can't be just wandering around New York and you have to go all the way to Long Island alone"

"Percy's right. How about you come inside and Percy and I drive you to Long Island in an hour, we are going there today anyway, we'll just drop you on your way there."

Grover looked at us gratefully "thank you Mrs. Jackson."

"we're going to Montauk?" I asked mom. She nodded and I grinned "sweet"

I tugged at Grover's arm. "come on, you can call your parents while I pack"

An hour later we were ready to leave.

Gabe took a break from his poker game long enough to watch me lug my mom's bags to the car. He kept griping and groaning about losing her cooking—and more important, his '78 Camaro—for the whole weekend.

"Not a scratch on this car, brain boy," he warned me as I loaded the last bag. "Not one little scratch."

Like I'd be the one driving. I was twelve. But that didn't matter to Gabe. If a seagull so much as pooped on his paint job, he'd find a way to blame me.

Watching him lumber back toward the apartment building, I made the hand gesture I'd seen Grover make on the bus, the warding-off-evil gesture, a clawed hand over my heart, then a shoving movement toward Gabe. The screen door slammed shut so hard it whacked him in the butt and sent him flying up the staircase as if he'd been shot from a cannon.

I had done this the first time around too, but I never knew how it happened.

"nice job kid." Chronos said. "That guy went whack-a-mole. Ananke was right, you are powerful, the most powerful demigod since Cletus, maybe even better than him"

"who?"

"Cletus, a son of Poseidon, he was the first ever demigod. He was so powerful, that the gods, thought him a god and let him see their true forms, sadly he was not a god and so he evaporated"

"I think I'm fine with being weaker than him."

Chronos chuckled.

"so how can I do this?"

"it doesn't happen often but sometimes you get more than your godly parents power, my guess is since you are descended from Uranus, you got some of his power. In which case you should have some of Gaia's power too, which means you have more control over the ground than the average son of Poseidon."

"how come no one ever realized that over the time 've known I was a demigod. And how have I never been able to use it, except for this"

"not many people are aware of the ability. You need to focus on it specifically, it won't come as naturally as controlling water, but you can do it and mix the abilities together, I'll teach it to you at camp."

Turning around I spotted Grover struggling to put his suitcase in the car. I helped him load in the car and we both sat in the backseat.

Then Grover said that his parents were asking if he could stay the night with us and leave the next morning when they picked him up.

Mom said that it was no problem and he was welcome to stay if he liked.

We talked about random things all the way to Montauk.

We got there at sunset, opened all the cabin's windows, and went through our usual cleaning routine. We walked on the beach, fed blue corn chips to the seagulls, and munched on blue jelly beans, blue saltwater taffy, and all the other free samples my mom had brought from work.

When it got dark, we made a fire. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Mom told us stories about when she was a kid, back before her parents died in the plane crash. She told us about the books she wanted to write someday, when she had enough money to quit the candy shop.

A couple of minutes later Grover went to the washroom. And I hesitated before speaking "mom, something weird happened to me in school"

And I spilled about the fight with Alecto, and the fates. She listened to me patiently, her face growing more worried every second.

She didn't react to the story at first, looking deep in thought;

I heard Grover's footsteps behind me, she looked up and asked. "Grover, why didn't you tell me about what happened on the field trip?"

Grover froze, "there was no time, I planned to talk to you when Percy went to sleep"

"wait" I feigned confusion "why would Grover tell you about it."

"Percy, I know this is confusing but bear with us for tonight, tomorrow, we will explain everything. But after this you would have to go somewhere, a camp where your father wanted you to go" she said gravely.

" my father?" I asked

"Percy please wait till tomorrow" my mother pleaded.

That night I had a fitful sleep. A sudden boom woke me.

"Hurricane" my mother said. Grover was nowhere to be found. Suddenly I heard footsteps and yelling. Someone banged on the door, I ran up and threw the door open.

Standing outside was Grover, his furry hindquarters on display. "its right behind me" he shouted "we've gotta go fast."

I sighed behind the both, time to meet my old pal. 


	7. Chapter 7

_Seriously Dude?_

my mom stared at me, her face deathly pale in the flashes of lightning.

She grabbed her purse, tossed me my rain jacket, and said, "Get to the car. Both of you. Go!"

Grover ran for the Camaro—but he wasn't running, exactly. He was trotting, shaking his shaggy hindquarters.

We tore through the night along dark country roads. Wind slammed against the Camaro. Rain lashed the windshield. I didn't know how my mom could see anything, but she kept her foot on the gas.

All I could think to say was, "So…considering you told me this has something to do with my father and the camp he wanted to send me to after demon math teacher, I guess we are going too that camp? Is my father a wacko who experiments with genetics or something?"

Graver's eyes flitted to the rearview mirror, his lips twitched at demon math teachers despite his tension. "Not exactly," he said. "I mean, we've never met in person. But he is really powerful Percy. You father is, kind of, well, a god"

" a god? And I am what? Heracles part-deux?"

" well, I doubt you are a son of Zeus" he offered weakly "I've been keeping tabs on you, making sure nothing happens. But I wasn't pretending being your friend, I am your friend"

"Urn ... what are you, exactly?"

"That doesn't matter right now."

"It doesn't matter? From the waist down, my best friend is a donkey—"

Grover let out a sharp, throaty "Blaa-ha-ha!"

"Goat!" he cried.

"What?"

"I'm a goat from the waist down."

"You just said it didn't matter."

"Blaa-ha-ha! There are satyrs who would trample you underhoof for such an insult!"

"Whoa. Wait. Satyrs are real too?

"Were those old ladies at the fruit stand a myth, Percy? Was Mrs. Dodds a myth?"

"So you admit there was a Mrs. Dodds!"

"Of course."

"Then why—"

"The less you knew, the fewer monsters you'd attract," Grover said, like that should be perfectly obvious. "We put Mist over the humans' eyes. We hoped you'd think the Kindly One was a hallucination. But it was no good. You started to realize who you are."

"Who I—wait a minute, what do you mean?"

The weird bellowing noise rose up again somewhere behind us, closer than before. Whatever was chasing us was still on our trail.

"Percy," my mom said, "there's too much to explain and not enough time. We have to get you to safety."

"Safety from what? Who's after me?"

"Oh, nobody much," Grover said, obviously still miffed about the donkey comment. "Just the Lord of the Dead and a few of his blood-thirstiest minions."

"Grover!"

"Sorry, Mrs. Jackson. Could you drive faster, please?"

I tried to wrap my mind around what was happening, but I couldn't do it. I knew this wasn't a dream. I had no imagination. I could never dream up something this weird.

My mom made a hard left. We swerved onto a narrower road, racing past darkened farmhouses and wooded hills and PICK YOUR OWN STRAWBERRIES signs on white picket fences. We were nearly at camp.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"The summer camp I told you about." My mother's voice was tight; she was trying for my sake not to be scared. "The place your father wanted to send you."

"The place you didn't want me to go."

"Please, dear," my mother begged. "This is hard enough. Try to understand. You're in danger."

"Because some old ladies cut yarn."

"Those weren't old ladies," Grover said. "Those were the Fates. Do you know what it means—the fact they appeared in front of you? They only do that when you're about to ... when someone's about to die."

"Whoa. You said 'you.'"

"No I didn't. I said 'someone.'"

"You meant 'you.' As in me."

"I meant you, like 'someone.' Not you, you."

"Boys!" my mom said.

She pulled the wheel hard to the right, and I got a glimpse of a figure she'd swerved to avoid—a dark fluttering shape now lost behind us in the storm.

"What was that?" I asked. This thing was honing my acting skills.

"We're almost there," my mother said, ignoring my question. "Another mile. Please. Please. Please."

I didn't know where there was, but I found myself leaning forward in the car, anticipating, wanting us to arrive.

Outside, nothing but rain and darkness—the kind of empty countryside you get way out on the tip of Long Island

Then I thought about riptide.

Before I could ask Grover about that, I felt the hair rise on the back of my neck. Too late I remembered the lightning bolt sent by Zeus. I couldn't let that happen again.

Almost instinctively I raised my hands, there was a tug in my stomach and I saw the water on the ground rise following my movement, I crossed my arms over my head and the water covered the car in an _x_ formation just in time for it to absorb the impact from the ightning and transfer it to the ground.

I lowered my arms. Grover was staring at me like I stole his Enchiladas. Not knowing how to respond to his look, I pretend to be oblivious to what I did.

It was a weak attempt at most, but Grover seemed to believe me because he turned to my mom and told her to speed up.

We were almost at the camp border. 10 meters…..5 meters… _screech._ We came to a hard stop.

"out, out, out" my mom shouted. We scrambled outside.

"Get to camp, I will distract him"

"NO" I shouted, " I am not leaving you with that thing" the minotaur was closing in on us. Grover was tugging at my arm.

My mother seemed to be on the verge of crying " percy, please,just go."

"Not without you" I grabbed her and tried to take her towards the tree but she resisted.

The minotaur was here, it was too late. I let go of mom. And looked at Grover. "take her and go right " I told him.

As the monster reached I dove left, grover and my mother went right. The monster seemed confused for a moment before going right.

I cursed and used the first idea that came to mind.

I stripped off my red rain jacket.

"Hey!" I screamed, waving the jacket, running to one side of the monster. "Hey, stupid! Ground beef!"

"Raaaarrrrr!" The monster turned toward me, shaking his meaty fists.

I had an idea—a stupid idea, but better than no idea at all. I put my back to the big pine tree and waved my red jacket in front of the bull-man.

The bull-man charged fast, his arms out to grab me whichever way I tried to dodge.

Time slowed down.

My legs tensed. I couldn't jump sideways, so I leaped straight up, kicking off from the creature's head, using it as a springboard, turning in midair, and landing on his neck.

A millisecond later, the monster's head slammed into the tree and the impact nearly knocked my teeth out.

The bull-man staggered around, trying to shake me. I locked my arms around his horns to keep from being thrown. Thunder and lightning were still going strong. The rain was in my eyes. The smell of rotten meat burned my nostrils.

I got both hands around one horn and I pulled backward with all my might. The monster tensed, gave a surprised grunt, then—snap!

The bull-man screamed and flung me through the air. I landed flat on my back in the grass. My head smacked against a rock. When I sat up, my vision was blurry, but I had a horn in my hands, a ragged bone weapon the size of a knife.

The monster charged.

Without thinking, I rolled to one side and came up kneeling. As the monster barreled past, I drove the broken horn straight into his side, right up under his furry rib cage.

The bull-man roared in agony. He flailed, clawing at his chest, then began to disintegrate—not like my mother, in a flash of golden light, but like crumbling sand, blown away in chunks by the wind.

The monster was gone. I looked towards my mom, Grover had her pinned down. Both were looking at me with shock.

"come" I gestured towards the camp.

Mom forced a smile " why don't you two go on ahead, I'll be walking behind you"

Pretending to be too tired to notice her lie, I tug at Grover's arm and lead him past the border, subtly looking behind me and confirming what I already knew- my mom wasn't coming. I walked to the big house as exsustion wore over me , I saw Annabeth and Chiron on the front porc, still exausted I pointed at Annabeth said "pretty" and promptly fainted in Grover's arms.


	8. Chapter 8

I remembered waking up once on a bed in the big house. Annabeth was sitting next to me with a bowl in her hand muttering something about seaweed brains.

"Anna- beth " I rasped weakly, I saw her eyes widen in shock and recognition. " wise girl."

"Percy?" she stroked my hair. " Do you know who I am?" she asked sounding hopefull

"pretty wise girl" I managed to say before I fainted again.

When I woke up I was sitting in a deck chair on the porch of the big house. There was a blanket on my legs, a pillow behind my neck. I wondered why I was feeling so tired. I was used to exerting myself far more than this.

" I was the reason you fainted and are tired we can't have you making Chiron suspicious about how a 12 year old was not exhausted after fighting the minotaur." Chronos said.

" And what about Annabeth? She seemed to recognize me? Did you bring her back in time too?." I asked. My heart beating faster. I tried not to think about it but I knew a 12 year old Annabeth was not the same one as mine and the idea of her not knowing me hurt.

" I got the idea when you fainted" Chronos admitted. " I thought it might be odd for you to date her otherwise."

" thank you" I said gratefully. I wanted to run around looking for my wise girl but I restrained myself.

" one more thing, I put a letter in your left pocket, to give to Chiron in your mothers handwriting, it says that your grandmother who died in a plane crash was the daughter of the roman god Apollo, to explain any idiotic mistakes about revealing the future we both know you will make. It says you sometimes get visions of the future but she tricked them into believing they were your imagination. And it says you are a son of Poseidon but to hide it until you are claimed. And that you know all this because she gave you a letter too, which is in your other pocket by the way. Also she is in the Montauk cabin for the next week, which she told Grover already. And just so you know Apollo knows the truth and will back your claim. I couldn't hide the truth from the sun, ya know"

"why are all your explanations so damn long" I asked him.

" Because, I like to hear myself talk and I can't waste your time since its frozen, but you can go back now"

There was a glass of nectar next to me. My hand was so weak I almost dropped it once I got my fingers around it.

"Careful" a familiar voice said.

Grover was leaning against the porch railing looking like hadn't slept in a week. He had a shoe box tucked under his arm. He was wearing blue jeans, converse high tops and a camp half-blood T-shirt.

I flashed him a small smile and lifted the glass to my lips, the taste if mymom's gooey chocolatey cookies filled my mouth, before I knew it the glass was drained, I felt energized.  
"You saved my life," Grover said. "I... well, the least I could do ... I went back to the hill. I thought you might want this.

He placed the shoebox with the minotaur horn on my lap. It was black and white, the base jagged from being broken off, splattered with dried blood.

" the minotaur" I said

"Percy… its not a very good idea to-"

" my mom, where is she?" I cut in.

Grover brightened. " in the cabin we were staying at ."

"why isn't she here? She said she would be."

" Mortals cant go beyond camp boundries, even ones who can see through the mist like your mother." He explained.

"The mist" I said. " what-" _crinkle._ I shifted a little. _Crinkle. Crinkle._ Slowly I reached into my right pocket and take out a paper.

The letter. I opened and read it.

" who's the letter from perce? " Grover asked nervously.

" my mom. Grover. Mom and you are just pulling one over me right. I mean, I cant be a d-demigod, can I? Gods don't exist. That's just what people used as an excuse before science."

Grover took the glass from me gingerly and set it on the table." I think we should go, Chiron and Mr. D are waiting."

I followed him around the building to the front of the big house where Chiron and Mr. D were sit on the opposite sides of a table. And on the porch rail next to them was – Annabeth.

She was beautiful. Her blond hair flying with the gentle breeze. Her gray eyes sparkled happily. I fought to keep my expression neutral.

"this is Mr. D," Grover murmured to me. "He's the camp director. Be polite. The girl, that's Annabeth Chase. She's just a camper, but she's been here longer than just about anybody. And you already know Chiron... ."

I did my best to sound confused and shocked. " Mr. Brunner? But…" a quick glance at Annabeth showed she was trying not to laugh.

"Ah, good, Percy," he said. "Now we have four for pinochle."

He offered me a chair to the right of Mr. D, who looked at me with bloodshot eyes and heaved a great sigh. "Oh, I suppose I must say it. Welcome to CampHalf-Blood. There. Now, don't expect me to be glad to see you."

"Uh, thanks."

"Annabeth?" Mr. Brunner called to the blond girl

She came forward and Mr. Brunner introduced us. "This young lady nursed you back to health, Percy. Annabeth, my dear, why don't you go check on Percy's bunk? We'll be putting him in cabin eleven for now."

Annabeth said, "Sure, Chiron."

She glanced at the minotaur horn in my hands, then back at a wink she said, "You drool when you sleep."  
Then she sprinted off down the lawn, her blond hair flying behind her. Leaving me trying not to choke on my laughter as I stared after her.

"I must say, Percy," Chiron-Brunner broke in, "I'm glad to see you alive. It's been a long time since I've made a house call to a potential camper. I'd hate to think I've wasted my time."

"House call?"

"My year at YancyAcademy, to instruct you. We have satyrs at most schools, of course, keeping a lookout. But Grover alerted me as soon as he met you. He sensed you were something special, so I decided to come upstate. I convinced the other Latin teacher to ... ah, take a leave of absence."

I tried to remember the beginning of the school year. It seemed like so long ago, but I did have a fuzzy memory of there being another Latin teacher my first week at Yancy. Then, without explanation, he had disappeared and Mr. Brunner had taken the class.

"You came to Yancy just to teach me?" I asked.

Chiron nodded. "Honestly, I wasn't sure about you at first. We contacted your mother, let her know we were keeping an eye on you in case you were ready for CampHalf-Blood. But you still had so much to learn. Nevertheless, you made it here alive, and that's always the first test."

"Grover," Mr. D said impatiently, "are you playing or not?"

"Yes, sir!" Grover trembled as he took the fourth chair, though I didn't know why he should be so afraid of a pudgy little man in a tiger-print Hawaiian shirt.

"You do know how to play pinochle?" Mr. D eyed me suspiciously.

" Yes sir" I said.

" Good " Mr. D sounded reluctantly impressed. " it is along with pac-man and gladiator fighting, one of the greatest games ever created by humans . I would expect all civilised men to know it."

He dealt the cards, Grover flinched everytime one landed in his pile. Chiron looked at me seriously , " are you okay Percy? You don't seem even the tiniest bit ruffled at being here."

I looked at him. " Grover… explained some things. And my mom left me a letter explaining something." Chiron frowned. " actually, she left one for you too" I handed him his letter.

Chiron read the letter, his eyes widened. He cleared his throat. " this is quite, perplexing."

" She wrote that this might be a problem." I agreed.

Chiron raised his eyebrow " She told you? "

" Everything except which one my dad was. She said she wanted to give him a chance to claim me on his own."

" what exactly is going on Chiron?" Mr. D questioned.

" apparently percy here aside from being a demigod is also a legacy of Apollo. His mother believes he has the sight. It certainly explains why he is so calm at the moment."

"Joy" Mr. D muttered sarcastically.

" oh look I won" he brightened considerably.

" actually not quite" Chiron set down a straight and tallied his points.

"blast it" cursed the God. he rose, Grover rose too. "I think I will take a nap, afterwards we will discuss Grover's performance. And you" he turned towards me. " you made an immpression, try to make it last." He swept into the big house.

Grover whimpered before following. Chiron smiled.

Will Grover be okay?" I asked Chiron.

Chiron nodded, though he looked a bit troubled. "Old Dionysus isn't really mad. He just hates his job. He's been ... ah, grounded, I guess you would say, and he can't stand waiting another century before he's allowed to go back to Olympus."

"MountOlympus," I said. "You're telling me there really is a palace there?"

"Well now, there's MountOlympus in Greece. And then there's the home of the gods, the convergence point of their powers, which did indeed used to be on MountOlympus. It's still called MountOlympus, out of respect to the old ways, but the palace moves, Percy, just as the gods do."

"You mean the Greek gods are here? Like ... in America?"

"Well, certainly. The gods move with the heart of the West."

"The what?"

"Come now, Percy. What you call 'Western civilization.' Do you think it's just an abstract concept? No, it's a living force. A collective consciousness that has burned bright for thousands of years. The gods are part of it. You might even say they are the source of it, or at least, they are tied so tightly to it that they couldn't possibly fade, not unless all of Western civilization were obliterated. The fire started in Greece. Then, as you well know—or as I hope you know, since you passed my course—the heart of the fire moved to Rome, and so did the gods. Oh, different names, perhaps—Jupiter for Zeus, Venus for Aphrodite, and so on—but the same forces, the same gods."

" but, they are different right. Otherwise there would be no need for Camp J-"

"Percy, that fact is not very widely known. And that is how we prefer it, to prevent wars. Please try to keep that aspect of your heritage discreet. And yes, their personalities change with their names. Some gods do not exist in the other forms, in fact and some loose a lot of power and importance, for example, Athena is revered but Minerva is shunned, so Athena is stronger than Minerva even though they are the same. Think of it as a split personality, sort of an alter ego."

And then he rose from his wheelchair, revealing his animal front.

What a relief," the centaur said. "I'd been cooped up in there so long, my fetlocks had fallen asleep. Now, come, Percy Jackson. Let's meet the other campers."

The tour went similar to my original one as I tried to sound curious about the various things. Thankfully, Chiron did not ask for his sword back and I did not bring up the topic again.

At the end Chiron and I stop in front of Cabin eleven where Annabeth is waiting for us. She flashes us a brilliant smile.

" Annabeth, I have an archery class right now. Would you please take Percy from here."

" yes sir."

Chiron didn't go in. The door was too low for him. But when the campers saw him they all stood and bowed respectfully.

"Well, then," Chiron said. "Good luck, Percy. I'll see you at dinner."

He galloped away toward the archery range.

I stepped inside.

Annabeth announced, "Percy Jackson, meet cabin eleven.

"Regular or undetermined?" Connor asked.

Annabeth said, "Undetermined."

Everybody groaned.

A guy who was a little older than the rest came forward. Luke. a flurry of emotions went through me – anger, sadness, pity, guilt. "Now, now, campers. That's what we're here for. Welcome, Percy. You can have that spot on the floor, right over there."

"This is Luke," Annabeth said, and her voice sounded different . i glanced over, her expression mirrored my emotions. "He's your counselor for now."

Come on," Annabeth told me. " I'll show you the volleyball pit" She grabbed my wrist and dragged me outside.

She led me through the woods and we stopped in front of a huge boulder. " Bunker 9" I said with a smile. Lighting a small match she had in her pocket for whatever reason, she pressed it against the stone.

The carven opened and she pushed me inside. Before I could react besides balancing myself, she pushed me against the wall and kissed me.


End file.
